I was stunned to learn from a friend of mine,who has Sympatico(don't know if I can say that) from the company that rimes with Tell.
She had trouble with her PC and called Tech-Support,I had no idea the Tech-Support people are sitting in an office in India.
She got very frustrated,had trouble understanding,since she is about as tech-savvy as me and is now cancelling her service.
I was told by my son it's the same with his provider,Rogers,but my son figures out his own problems.
Also 75%of the Telemarketers are calling from India,that just floored me.
No offense to people from India,but it is at times hard to understand what's being said.
It was a low-paying job even here,so how greedy can the companies get???

a friend of mine travels from Ottawa to india twice a year to help train people in india for sympatico, he also just came back from 3 months in Africa training another call center that sympatico opened there. He works at the main office in Ottawa

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
-Unknown

WOW,that's really surprising,Gogeco that we have still has their tech-support here in Canada,but it's much smaller than either Rogers or Bell.
Ever since we canceled our Bell land-line,(we now have the Cogeco package-deal including HD,Digital TV,Phone and High-speed internet),they call at least 6 times/week,to entice us back,that's never going to happen.
Thank's girls for clearing that up for me,I at first thought my friend was hallucinating

I have had good service from the Sympatico technical people based in India. Their training includes classes in colloquial English, but no doubt some are more fluent - and competent - than others. The people who flog newspaper subscriptions here in Montreal are more likely to be a problem, I don't know how they keep their jobs, as pitifully paid as they are. I can barely understand them.

I read an article recently that said India, with its booming economy, is not the country of choice anymore, so no surprise they are moving to Africa. Welcome to the global economy. Offshore call-rooms are the norm, Chico. You'd think with all the training and travelling, it would be almost as expensive as paying locals more. On the other hand, no UI premiums, sick pay, etc., which add up.

Listen, there are Indian radiologists (medical training in India is excellent) reading Xrays over the internet for doctors here. Go figure.

Bangalore (city in India) is often referred to as India's Silicon Valley. It's a modern "college town" (bit of a misnomer with a population of over 6 million!) and is the IT hub of the country. That's likely where most of these various telecommunications companies are outsourcing their tech-support from. I spent a few days there many years ago and really liked it. They even had an SPCA, which is unheard of in most parts of India.

we have two huge call centers in cornwall, they start the pay at 10 dollars per hour...you gain 1.50 after training, there are bonus packs, their health benefits are wonderful 80% of dental , glasses and perscriptions.............and we have sent representatives to newfoundland to try to get people to work there........they've even lowered it that you no longer need a highschool diploma to work there, just grade 10 or equivalent.............still....they can't hire enough people from S.D& G......no idea why......people don't want to work in call centers

Badger,I know about India being very Technically advanced,but the person my friend(female)was talking to was not very patient when she asked him to repeat,since she did not understand what he said.
That would make me very angry,I pay a lot of money to my service provider and expect them to deliver.
India needs jobs,as does Canada,the US and almost every country in the world at this time.
I wish Canadian companies outsourced to help people,but it is just plain and simple greed,screw the Canadians out of work,not very patriotic.

Maybe , but if I pay for a canadian service , by a canadian company , I would expect them to hire canadians.

Exactly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diandpat

Our company laid off thousands of permanent employees to outsource to India. It is a Canadian company.

CANADIANS need jobs too.

There is no difference here than the rag trade using kids in China to make their goods...bottom line is the almighty dollar and it is always the same people who get richer!

Nothing against the people in India but there are people here willing and able to do those jobs too.

We are losing thousands of jobs a month. I get extremely irritated when the phone rings at 6:00 pm and I'm trying to make supper and I get a call from someone who can barely speak english, or speaks so fast you can't understand them. I was thrilled when the do not call list came into effect but its less then perfect.

Melinda,one of my sons friends,who always helps us,took an IT course,started working at a Cogeco call-center,from there he became a Tech-teacher and now he is servicing all the computers in the Catholic school-system,making very good money.
Cogeco has mostly young people,who uses the calling-center as a stepping stone,to better things,I doubt they have any kind of fringe benefits.
I am not a bigot,I actually find the Indian accent,often pleasant,but not if I need to understand how to fix the PC.
I have an accent myself,but thank Dog I don't sound like the guy on the IKEA commercial

Canadian companies with Canadian customer service are getting cheap too. I called a propane company (with 24/7 customer service advertised everywhere) at 4:30pm on Monday... to have the person on the line tell me that they couldn't help, only take a message cause they were just an ANSWERING SERVICE I asked her when I could call to get to talk to someone who could help and she didn't know

I've called the Sympatico service a couple of times for my Mom... some good experiences, some not. I guess, just like any service industry there are good people and there are not so good people, no matter where they are from or how much they get paid.

Hmmm, i'd pay more to know the company I was doing business with was employing Canadians... would you? I guess ya gotta think about these kind of issues when making purchases these days, a lot to consider for something so simple

We are losing thousands of jobs a month. I get extremely irritated when the phone rings at 6:00 pm and I'm trying to make supper and I get a call from someone who can barely speak english, or speaks so fast you can't understand them. I was thrilled when the do not call list came into effect but its less then perfect.

I've been in the telco world for 5 years. The problem with most Canadian call centres is that there is so much training you need before you can be a good CSR. Training can be as much a 6 months... having said that the average CSR lasts 3 months in Canada. Indian CSRs last longer, but language becomes a barrier. But the bottom line to the major companies is India is cheaper than Canada.

I won't go on a long rant about the Do Not Call list, but I will say that I was part of the early discussions in the development of the National Do Not Call List in Canada, so I'm well informed. I will say that the list does not work and it is a huge waste of tax payer money.

Think about it. You give your number to the DNCL. They in turn send your number to ALL call centres and tell them don't use this. Can they all be so trusting? I can set up a fake company (not using my real name), pay the fee to CRTC and get the DNCL. Now I can scam specifically those people, by saying I'm the CRTC and part of being on the DNCL, I will need some more information from you... like your name, address, social #, drivers license, etc to validate that I am talking to the correct person. Don't worry, we are part of the Canadian Government, your information is secure with us. Bam! I just stole your identity!

Joey,it's gotten to the point,I do not answer,or pick up and hang up,if I don't know the caller or the number.
Caller ID is the best feature on our phone.
Also,I know some people are vulnerable,but we never give out any personal info to any caller.

I watched a documentary recently about an American guy who traded places with a guy from India. They basically switched lives completely for several months, jobs and all.

The American guy had to fill in for the Indian guy at his call centre job and couldn't understand why everyone in India seemed to WANT to work in a call centre. It turns out that call centre jobs are considered very prestigious/important. They get to learn english and work for a North American company. Apparently there's no shortage of Indian men and women jumping at the chance to do call centre work.

We used to use both Bell and Rogers (now we live in Halton Region and we HAVE to use Cogeco). I don't recall ever calling and getting anyone other than either an English voice or a voice with a French-Canadian accent (which I could listen to all day). But when I have received calls they always seemed to have Indian accents.

I had the best time telling the evil empire (bell) to bugger off when we switched everything to cable.... even when the call centers were here the customer service was the pits.... now it's crappy with a side of communication barrier! And our bills were at least twice what we pay now... the biggest difference being the phone.

I know how your friend feels,I had to call them for my mom.she has DSL and it was very slow and then i noticed it said it was looking for a proxy server.

So i called them knowing it was something in the setting for the internet.couldn't understand the person and had to get them to repeat everything and in the end of the conversation they told me the computer had to be taken to a repair shop to get the pc fixed.

I knew it was in the setting for their DSL as i had the same problem but could remember how to fix it.needless to say i had to figure it out myself has they were no help at all.couldn't speak very good english and knew nothing about computers at all.i can deal with the poor english but they should be able to do their job or get somebody who can when requested to do so.

Stacer,I have used Cogeco forever,never anything but good service.(hope I don't jinx myself)
My modem went caput and of course having the phone through them,I also had no phone(no cell-phone)
I went to Fate's house called Cogeco and they came the same afternoon to fix the problem.
The phone through cable is great,I can call all longdistance any time,with no extra charge.